{"id":41221,"date":"2017-08-23T09:55:22","date_gmt":"2017-08-23T15:55:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=41221"},"modified":"2017-08-24T13:27:55","modified_gmt":"2017-08-24T19:27:55","slug":"muscle-beach-records-independant-oxford-label-on-the-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/muscle-beach-records-independant-oxford-label-on-the-rise\/","title":{"rendered":"Muscle Beach Records: Independent Oxford Label on the Rise"},"content":{"rendered":"

Muscle Beach Records<\/strong> is a small label run by Adam Porter<\/strong>, Graham Hamaker<\/strong>, and Kieran Danielson<\/strong>. Primarily the label releases albums on cassette tape, though they put out Casey Golden<\/strong>\u2019s self-titled album on vinyl and are planning another vinyl release in 2017.<\/span><\/p>\n

Prior to living in Oxford, Hamaker lived in New Orleans<\/strong> and ran a small tape label called Grace King<\/strong><\/a> that put out the first release from Bonus<\/strong>, Danielson\u2019s band.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI met [Hamaker] at a show my band was playing in New Orleans that he helped put together,\u201d said Danielson.<\/span><\/p>\n

When Danielson heard about a job opening in Oxford he sent Hamaker a Facebook<\/strong> message.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t really have anything going on in New Orleans and I went to school for music industries,\u201d said Hamaker. \u201cI came up to meet everyone and a week later I moved up here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The inspiration for the label came from just hanging around Danielson, Porter, and all the other local musicians.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Kieran Danielson, Adam Porter, Graham Hamaker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cEveryone around me up here is making music and it made sense to put it all out under one imprint instead of self-releasing or finding other small labels,\u201d said Hamaker.<\/span><\/p>\n

Muscle Beach\u2019s initial releases were the in-house projects of Danielson\u2019s Bonus and Porter\u2019s Starman Jr.<\/strong>, but the trend was broken with Slow Loris<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSlow Loris, who we don\u2019t know very well and I think still lives in Oxford,\u201d laughs Danielson. \u201cEvery time we\u2019re asked about him or it\u2019s brought up in an interview we\u2019re just like, \u2018If you\u2019re reading this, don\u2019t be afraid to reach back out to us. We miss you and admire you and would love to set up a show or another album release.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The entirety of their business communications were done over the span a handful of emails across a few months.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s this dude that moved down here from Wisconsin. He does coding or something for somewhere,\u201d said Hamaker. \u201cHe interviewed Kieran for his blog but Kieran basically ended up interviewing him and hasn\u2019t seen him since, and I\u2019ve never met him.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

After the Slow Loris release, the guys decided to branch out further and start finding artists that they simply enjoyed and wanted to have on their roster. The lists of releases now includes regional acts such as Swear Tapes<\/strong>, Him Horrison<\/strong>, and Miss<\/strong>, who is now based out of New York<\/strong>, as well as Jeff Lownsbury<\/strong> and Casey Golden<\/strong> of Arizona<\/strong>. The independant label has even managed to grab the attention of a few international artists like Molly Drag<\/strong> of Montreal<\/strong>, Quebec<\/strong>, and Harry Permezel<\/strong> of Melbourne<\/strong>, Australia<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWith Molly Drag, he kind of reached out to us,\u201d said Porter. \u201cIt was like a chain reaction through Facebook.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Shelf Life<\/strong>, a Pennsylvania based band, made a Facebook post seeking out small labels. A friend tagged Muscle Beach Records and Molly Drag saw it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHarry we just heard on Bandcamp and reached out to him,\u201d said Porter.<\/span><\/p>\n

They worked with Permezel closely on his first record, keeping in close contact with him. The second album is underway and is expected to release on vinyl.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been working with him on his second album which is just about finished,\u201d said Danielson. \u201cWe\u2019re expecting that out early 2018, late 2017.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the biggest releases, that they describe as the most studio-sounding album on the label, is Golden\u2019s self-titled release.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe kept sharing snippets but the more I heard the more we all started getting interested in it and realized it\u2019s worth the investment,\u201d said Danielson. \u201cIt didn\u2019t really deserve to be on a cassette. It deserved the vinyl format.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The cost of cassette runs are much, much more affordable than vinyl, so while they all were behind Golden as an artist, the decision came down to if they felt the vinyl release would sell.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWith tapes, we don\u2019t really push them,\u201d said Hamaker. \u201cWe\u2019ve mostly just been laying low and building a back catalogue of really cool music. With vinyl it doesn\u2019t make sense to do that so we have to be certain we\u2019re going to sell enough of this to recoup some of the expenses.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As the label has grown, the financial aspects move more towards the forefront. None of them are getting rich off the venture, but managing the investments in new releases is important to keep things moving forward.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe really don\u2019t want to make too few [tapes] because it doesn\u2019t make sense money wise,\u201d said Hamaker. \u201cA run of a 100 tapes feels like a good number and that\u2019s what we usually do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a long list of releases on the horizon for Muscle Beach Records. Swear Tapes will drop the yet to be named release October 13, Kell Kellum<\/strong> is in talks to release an ambient project, Bonus III <\/em>is nearly finished according to Danielson, and Memphis-based Melinda<\/strong> is slated for an upcoming release as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Check out musclebeachrecords.com<\/a> for up-to-date news on releases, upcoming shows, and links to all their socials.\u00a0\"The<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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